Puzzle 9: Tea Party
I was solving an Andrew Reis Rows Garden puzzle recently, and at one point the part of one row I had filled in spelled out the entry at 45-Across. I realized immediately that (1) this would make a great theme entry, (2) this was an obvious enough theme that it must have been done before (probably several times) and (3) it’s a theme with dozens of potential entries, so surely I could come up with a unique set. Since it’s hard to search for themes, I instead searched for my theme entries, and since I couldn’t find them used anywhere I went ahead and constructed the puzzle.
It was only when I got to cluing that I discovered that Merl Reagle had used 56-Across when he constructed a puzzle with the same theme. In fact, Merl used it twice — first in 2006, and again in 2012 when he republished the 2006 puzzle with a completely new set of clues. I decided to leave the entry in, partly because I didn’t relish the idea of redoing the whole bottom third of the grid, but mostly because it’s a fun entry and 2012 was far enough back that nobody’s enjoyment of the puzzle will be ruined by seeing the entry again.
Also I wanted to get this done in time for Boswords, since if you squint hard enough, the theme is kind of Boston related. If you weren’t there, you can still order all the puzzles for a mere $5. You also can still sign up for Lollapuzoola 12 on August 17, the greatest crossword tournament ever held on a Saturday in August. Hurry, as all the tables are already full, and I’m sure they’ll soon start running out of “clipboard seats” (you get a chair but no table). If you’re going to be at the tournament and want to join a bunch of crossword folks for a drink on Friday and/or Saturday night, shoot me a message and I’ll send you the details.
